Peripheral Devices Research Articles

Vibration associated with cryotherapy to relieve pain in children

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The administration of intramuscular drugs and peripheral venous puncture are procedures that use needles cause pain, especially in children. This painful experience generates distress, phobia, tachycardia, refusal to further treatments, anxiety, and sadness in parents. The use of non-pharmacological methods such as vibration and cold for pain relief in children has become a reliable alternative. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between vibration and cryotherapy as a strategy for the relief of pain in children undergoing procedures with the use of needles. CONTENTS: This is an integrative review, in which articles were searched in the Pubmed, Medline, BDENF and LILACS databases, using the descriptors: “Child”, “Vibration”, “Cryotherapy” and “Pain” associated with the Boolean operator “and”. After the selection and reading of the articles in full, they were systematically synthesized and classified with a level of scientific evidence 2. Studies have shown that the association between vibration and cryotherapy is effective in reducing pain in children with or without cognitive alterations, also reducing their and parents’ anxiety during procedures performed with needles. CONCLUSION: The implementation of vibration associated with cryotherapy during the administration of injectable drugs and the installation of a peripheral venous device can reduce the fear, anguish, and anxiety in children, calming the parents and benefiting health professionals.

Opportunistic use of Spectral Holes in Karachi using Convolutional Neural Networks

Wireless services appearing in the next generation wireless standard i.e. 6G include Internet of Everything (IoE), Holographic communications, smart transportation and smart cities require exponential rise in the bandwidth in addition to other requirements. The current static spectrum allocation policy does not allow any new entrant to exploit already grid-locked Radio Frequency (RF) spectrum. Hence, quest for larger bandwidth can be fulfilled through other technologies. These include exploiting sub-Terahertz band, Visible Light Communication and Cognitive Radio scheme or exploiting of RF bands in opportunistic fashion. Cognitive Radio is one of those engines to exploit the RF spectrum in secondary style. Cognitive Radio can use artificial intelligence driven algorithms to complete the task. Several intelligent algorithms can be used for better forecasting of spectral holes. Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is a Deep Learning algorithm that can be used to predict the presence of a spectral holes that can be opportunistically exploited for efficient utilization of RF spectrum in secondary fashion. This paper investigates the performance of CNN for metropolitan Karachi city of Pakistan so that the users can be provided with uninterrupted access to the network even under busy hours. Dataset for the proposed setup is collected for 1805 MHz frequency band through NI 2901 Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) devices. The root mean square error (RMSE) for the predicted results using CNN appears to be 81.02 at epoch of 200 and mini-batch loss of 3281.8. Based on the predicted results, it was concluded that CNN can be useful for investigating the possible opportunistic usage of RF spectrum, however, further investigation is required with different datasets.

Magnetic levitation of a ferrofluid droplet in mid-air

A prototype magnetic levitation (maglev) system for feeding, holding and conveying ferrofluids successfully levitated a ferrofluid droplet with feedback control in the air at room temperature. This maglev system consists of a rod-shaped electromagnet, a displacement sensor, an oil-repellent film, a sample stage, and peripheral control devices. The levitated droplet has a mass of 15 mg and a viscosity of 5,000 mPa.sec. The pure deformation and behavior of the droplet in the process from the control start to the stable levitation state were investigated in detail using a high-speed camera. The magnetically levitated droplet behaved very fast as well as a common solid object. The droplet finally stabilized in a bottom-swollen egg shape in mid-air. The technique of magnetically levitating one droplet will lead to developing a manipulator system for ferrofluids.

I Am Error: The Nintendo Family Computer by Nathan Altice

Reviewed by: I Am Error: The Nintendo Family Computer by Nathan Altice Casey O’Donnell (bio) I Am Error: The Nintendo Family Computer. By Nathan Altice. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2015. Pp. 440. Paperback $30. I desperately wanted to write this book. Of course, then it wouldn’t have been this book. When I was told someone else was going to be writing “the NES book,” I was intensely jealous. Consequently, I went into my reading of the text with unreasonable expectations. I have critiqued the atheoretical perspective of many of the platform studies texts, and I have an intense sense of care for the object of this text. Nathan Altice does an exceptional job of overcoming my unreasonable expectations, making this jilted lover of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) appreciate his take on the project. The NES and its Japanese counterpart the Nintendo Famicom (Famicom) sit central in this Platform Studies series text published by MIT Press, [End Page 378] edited by Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost. The series draws heavily on a conceptual framework rooted in object-oriented ontology. What is most intriguing in the choice of studying both the NES and Famicom simultaneously is that Altice runs the perfect gambit by destabilizing the “objectness” of the NES/Famicom from the very beginning. While it does not run explicitly throughout the text, he leverages “translation” in an explicitly Derridean sense, which again defuses some of my critiques of the platform studies approach. Most importantly, the book also explores the NES/Famicom as an object not ready made, but rather an object becoming. Throughout the text, the NES/Famicom shifts and swerves over time. On the one hand, we have the opportunity to learn of the history of the Famicom and its simultaneously limited and yet innovative design and construction. The nuances of this device have come to have lasting impacts on videogame design and development and an entire generation of developers that drew heavily on the resulting “8-bit” aesthetics. Altice gives us a distinct perspective on the NES/Famicom and the games produced for these systems through the lens of translation: PAL/NTSC, Japanese/English, and PRG-ROM/CHR-ROM. While on the one hand the book can feel at times overly technical, Altice decodes the objects and ushers the reader through a very nuanced and detailed unpacking of a device almost constantly under translation. The author walks readers through the construction of things like levels of Super Mario Bros., which becomes a kind of translational object for understanding game design and development practice. “Design data” is as much a part of a game as its “engine” or pixelated art “assets.” There is a sense of contingency and lack of closure, which at its core troubles the foundations of platform studies. The NES/Famicom as a platform under translation and manipulation sits at the core of the text. Altice draws on Mark Sample’s notion of the “pre-platform,” or as I might say, the object-becoming. Early versions of a North American bound version of the NES trouble the idea of a kind of steady or self-assured product development cycle. The Famicom’s strange set of peripheral devices that made the device’s lifespan in Japan significantly longer than that of its American-bound counterpart encourage us to see every port on the device as an opportunity for platforms to swerve out of control. Clearly this level of attention tells us something new about platforms, particularly those like the NES/Famicom. Ever present in the text is the figure of the emulator, to which members of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) would be well suited to pay heed. The history and archival future of videogames is intimately tied to software systems that they would rather classify as the tools of pirates. Throughout the text, FCEUX (an NES/Famicom/Famicom Disk System emulator) and Macifom (an NES emulator) loom large. [End Page 379] Piracy and ideas about software and development become encoded into the platform in interesting ways, as I have written about in my work as well. Altice’s devotion to the device makes it clear that this is a kind of labor of love...

Issues of compatibility of processor command architectures

Modern computers and computing devices are based on the principle of open architecture, according to which the computer consists of several sufficiently independent devices that perform a certain function. These devices must meet certain standards of interaction with each other. Existing standards relate to both the technical characteristics of the devices and the content of the signals exchanged between them. The article considers the issue of creating a universal architecture of processor commands. The brief analysis of the components of devices and interrelations between them (different hardware features of processors, architecture of memory models and registers of peripheral devices, mechanisms of operand processing, the number of registers and processed data types, interruptions, exceptions, etc.) is carried out. The problem of architecture standardization, which generalizes the capabilities of the most common architectures and is suitable for high-performance emulation on most computer architectures, is put.

METHODS OF USING MICROSOFT WINDOWS FAMILY OPERATING SYSTEMS ON EXTERNAL SYSTEM DRIVE

Computer’s operating system in generally installed on its internal SSD (HDD). When user boot computer, the BIOS loads the boot loader from the internal SSD and the boot loader boots the installed operating system. A boot loader is a computer program that loads an operating system or some other system software for the computer after completion of the power-on self-tests. A boot loader is loaded into main memory from persistent memory. On modern general purpose computers, the boot up process can take tens of seconds, or even minutes, and typically involves performing a power-on self-test, locating and initializing peripheral devices, and then finding, loading and starting an operating system. Booting is complete when the normal, operative, runtime environment is attained. I have Implemented a few methods of using Microsoft Windows family operating systems on external system drive. Keywords : System drive, HDD, SSD, microSD card, operating system, installation files, WIM-file, DISM, Diskpart, BCDboot, Microsoft Windows.

Large Field of View Cooperative Infrared and Visible Spectral Sensor for Visual Odometry

Thermal images produced by the long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) camera are robust and independent from environmental illumination change. They can help the standard visible light camera working under the complicated environmental condition. Breaking through the traditional stereo multi-spectral sensor consisting of a visible-light camera and a LWIR camera, a novel architecture of large field of view (FOV) cooperated infrared and visible spectral sensor for visual odometry is proposed. The novel sensor is equipped with two visible cameras, four infrared cameras covering 120 degrees FOV in horizontal under both bands. Distribution of cameras and related peripheral devices are specifically designed which makes the sensor's volume less than 100 cm (length) × 10 cm (height) × 10 cm (width). The sensor's cameras calibration, distortion correction and measurement principle are elaborated. Feature-based method for visible and multi-windowed optimization-based image alignment for infrared is designed for the visual odometer based on the different imaging mechanism and distribution of cameras in the sensor. The frames and estimated poses management from both bands are proposed. Moreover, all proposed methodologies can be implemented in the sensor's embedded processor. The electrical power consumption is only 12W. Experiments of the sensor's evaluation are performed, experimental results show that large FOV cooperated multi-spectral cameras can efficiently improve the robustness of visual odometry. The real-time performance of the sensor is higher than 10fps with disparity map construction under both bands.

A Hybrid Approach for Digital Representation of Sensors in Real-Time Applications

We propose a hybrid approach for peripheral device emulation of sensors on hardware platforms as well as hardware virtualization platforms. The proposed approach stems from challenges faced in IoT (Internet of Things) application development, namely, hardware selection and evaluation, software development for the hardware under consideration, and reliable reproducibility of application tests. The hybrid approach provides strong support for all development phases of IoT products and system development in the absence of physical peripheral sensor hardware. We also present an event-driven software architecture for different components and a modular workflow for implementing the emulator. Within the approach, a peripheral device emulator is conceivable by using the event-driven software architecture and modular workflow. Finally, we introduce the term Simulatable Datasheet, which is realizable by configuring the emulator as per technical documentation like datasheets or application notes. The Simulatable Datasheet provides an interactive interface to improve decision-making during the product development phase. The Simulatable Datasheet thus relaxes the need for hardware availability and eases testing scenarios during IoT real and non-real-time application development without modification in the firmware. Additionally, these datasheets can reduce efforts for hardware and software integration and enable faster debugging, which in turn reduces the overall time to deploy IoT applications in various fields.

Indoor Multi-Floor 3D Target Tracking Based on the Multi-Sensor Fusion

In recent years, indoor target tracking based on pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) and the built-in inertial sensors of smartphone has become a research hotspot in location-based services (LBS). However, indoor 3D target tracking using smartphone inertial measurement unit (IMU) mainly face challenges of error accumulation caused by the heading drift of sensors and height fluctuation caused by the instability of barometer. This paper proposes a multi-floor 3D target tracking system based on the built-in inertial sensors of smartphone. We first establish a 2D PDR movement model by raw sensor data and then 2D PDR position is corrected in real time by rebuilding the particle filter model and refining the calculation method of particle weight to reduce the accumulated errors. A height displacement measurement method based on Kalman filter and floor change detection (FCD) algorithm is proposed to extend the 2D PDR tracking to 3D space. We first skillfully use Kalman filter to fuse the data of barometer and accelerometer, after that, the FCD algorithm is proposed to evaluate and modify the output height of the Kalman filter, evaluating the floor change state and maintaining steady height. The 3D target tracking, which consists of real-time 2D trajectory information and height information, is provided to the pedestrian. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method based on the fusion of various technologies can effectively maintain track stability and smoothness with low cost and high positioning accuracy. Moreover, additional peripheral devices need not be arranged in advance.

Employee Training in an Intelligent Factory Using Virtual Reality

The article presents the results of research on the impact of virtual reality on the effectiveness of training employees performing production tasks. The research was carried out in the Smart Factory laboratory, which is a model of a smart factory functioning in accordance with the concept of Industry 4.0. A prototype VR system and its building process were presented, starting with the digitization of the laboratory, through logical programming and connecting peripheral devices. The subject, scope and plan of conducting comparative studies of operator training at both real production stations and in a virtual environment were presented. As a criterion for comparing the results achieved by individual groups subject to the study, the following were adopted: the time to complete the production task and the number of non-compliant products achieved in real conditions.

Planar polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells: powering portable devices from hydrogen

An air breathing planar PEMFC has thin geometry, open cathode and minimum peripheral devices.

Working From Home with External Storage

During the 2020 Covid-19 epidemic, many people who worked in “non-essential” industries, were working from home. Working from home has only been possible because of Internet connectivity and consumer electronics technologies such as personal computers (desktop or laptop), related peripheral devices (including digital stor-age), as well as smart phones and tablets. Collaboration between working teams was possible using cloud-based applications, content sharing, physical mail, and email.

EEG Based Headband for Emotion Detection

EEG is the term used for recording the brain electrical activity. In Electroencephalography, the encephalon means brain. EEG measures electrical activity generated by thousands of neurons that exists in human brain. The brain electrical activity is measured in voltages. This paper is focused on recognizing emotion from human activity, measured by EEG signals. Making the computer more empathic to the user is one of the aspects of affective computing. With EEG-based emotion detection, the computer can actually take a look inside user’s head to observe their mental state. A low power, low noise and high sensitive analog signal from brain decoded into filtered digital output. The decoder picks a low amplitude and a microvolt signal from brain and decodes it into a filtered and amplified output. As of thelatestattentiongiving fromexaminationteam in creatingsensitivecommunicationamong human beings and peripheral device, the proof of identity of emotive state of the previousdeveloped a necessity. Electro-encephalography establishedimportantconsideration from scientists, becausethey establish modest, inexpensive, transportable, and easily solving theidentification of mind states in this paper.[2] In this paper, it provide a comprehensive overviewfrompresent works in emotion detection using EEG signals.

Standardized data formats for flexible human-robot-collaboration at a multi-workstation assembly table

In the process of industrial automatization, collaborative robots are becoming an increasingly important tool in a wide range of industries. The robot assists humans in strenuous and repetitive tasks, in order to increase the productivity and well-being of the worker. The concept presented in this paper focuses on a flexible assistance function of a robot for multiple workstations simultaneously and incorporates different human-machine-interaction approaches. Therefore, an assembly table (Figure 2) with the possibility to study different concepts for one robot at the same time is designed and constructed. Aspects like ergonomics and safety are considered in the design. Additionally, a standardized data format that enables users and developers to control the robot through peripheral devices is created. As an example, gesture and voice control are discussed and evaluated.

Assessment of Agreement of Wrist Bone Mineral Density with Spine and Hip Bone Mineral Density in Postmenopausal Women

Objective: Worldwide, osteoporosis in postmenopausal women is a common public health problem. The measurement of bone mineral density (BMD) of spine and hip using central dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is the most standard technique to diagnose osteoporosis. But in many circumstances, measurement of spine or hip BMD is quite difficult to carry out where wrist BMD can be used as an alternative. Moreover, wrist BMD can be done with smaller, cheaper, portable peripheral devices for screening osteoporosis at primary health care level. The objective of the study was to explore the agreement of wrist BMD with spine and hip BMD in postmenopausal women.
 Patients and Methods: This observational, cross sectional study was carried out at National Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (NINMAS), Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) campus, from July 2017 to June 2018. A total of 110 postmenopausal women referred to NINMAS for BMD measurement were enrolled in this study after fulfilling selection criteria. BMD of spine, right and left hip and wrist of enrolled subjects were measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan by Stratos DR Bone densitometer.
 Results: Agreement analysis done by kappa statistics revealed kappa value of 0.930 (p<0.05), 0.782 (p<0.05) and 0.635 (p<0.05) between wrist and spine BMD, wrist and right hip BMD and wrist and left hip BMD, respectively. In Bland-Altman analysis, the mean difference of T-score measured by wrist and spine was -0.007 ± 1.361, wrist and right hip was -0.645 ± 1.271 and wrist and left hip was -0.450 ± 1.259 with 95% of differences were found in between -2.674 and 2.660, -3.136 and 1.846 and -2.917 and 2.017, respectively. Positive significant Pearson’s correlation was observed between wrist BMD and spine BMD (r=0.664; p=0.001), wrist BMD and right hip BMD (r=0.719; p=0.001) and wrist BMD and left hip BMD (r=0.727; p=0.001).
 Conclusion: This study results showed an excellent kappa agreement between wrist and spine BMD with good kappa agreement of wrist with right and left hip BMD as well as in Bland-Altman analysis, the mean differences of T-score between wrist andspine, wrist and right hip and wrist and left hip were small. The biases between the methods were considered not significant suggesting that these sites can be used interchangeably for measurement of BMD. Hence, wrist BMD can be used with regular skeletal sites (spine and hip) as an effective method of diagnosing osteopenia and osteoporosis by DXA where spine or hip BMD is difficult to carry out as well as it can be used for osteoporosis screening at primary health care level by portable peripheral DXA device to initiate early treatment to reduce fracture risks.
 Bangladesh J. Nuclear Med. 22(1): 41-46, Jan 2019

The Development of Capacitive Power Transfer for Biomedical Implantable Devices

Wireless power transfer using electric and magnetic near-fields has been used in many applications widely, and biomedical implants being one of them. The most commonly used method for powering power wirelessly to biomedical implantable device is using inductive coupling between two mutually-coupled coils. In this paper, a consider new method will be proposed in transferring power for biomedical device which is based on capacitive coupling and known as capacitive power transfer (CPT) system. The main reasons of using this method are the low electromagnetic interference (EMI), can reduce power losses and the abilities to transfer power across metal barriers compared to inductive power transfer. To be specific, in this work, we have designed Class E circuit as an inverter to convert the 12VDC to AC with 1 MHz frequency. The prototype of the capacitive power transfer for implantable application has also been successfully developed with capacitive plate dimensions of 3cmx3cm width per length for receiver plate and 4cmx4cm for transmitter plate, respectively. 5mm thickness of beef separation between the plates is used in this paper. The design specification of this work is accordance to stimulator for peripheral nerve implantable device which only needs 100 mW of power to operate in the CPT system. Overall, the developed CPT system for the biomedical device is able to deliver 76mWatt with 41.43% efficiency. To enhance the efficiency, the impedance matching circuit has been proposed in this work and the prototype is now able to deliver 140mWatt power to the DC load, achieving zero voltage switching (ZVS) waveform and efficiency of 77.5%.

A hybrid security strategy (HS2) for reliable video streaming in fog computing

Recently, digital communication and storage over the Internet through the cloud have increased in a rapid manner. Accordingly, data security becomes a vital issue as there are many hackers who want to steal or alter others’ private data. Fog computing comes to secure and facilitate the connection to the cloud. It works as an intermediary between the cloud and the peripheral devices. Accordingly, the channel between the fog and those devices must be secured against attacks. Many efforts have been done to secure the fog through the use of steganography to embed important data into a cover digital medium and cryptography to encrypt the data into a meaningless form. As steganography and cryptography have their own advantages, combining them into a hybrid system will certainly promote the security level. Video steganography uses video as a cover media for hiding secret data as video streaming over internet is very popular and common that cannot be doubted by intruders. The advantage of using video files as a cover is that they are more secure against hacker attacks due to their relative complexity compared to other multimedia types and the data redundancy which permits to embed large amount of secret data. In this paper a new hybrid security strategy (HS2) merging the advantages of both cryptography and steganography for securing the fog has been proposed. HS2 embeds a secret image into a video .mp4 as the host medium. HS2 has two main contributions. The first is a new encryption technique that depends on α-blocks of linear feedback shift registers (LFSRs) merged with an adder/subtractor to generate a strong secret key for each block. All blocks outputs are combined using a nonlinear function to construct the final key. Such generated key will be XORed with the secret image to produce the encrypted secret image. The second contribution is a new steganography methodology based on an enhanced discrete wavelet packet transform (DWPT) to embed the encrypted secret image into a cover video. Experimental results and security analysis have shown that the proposed HS2 outperforms recent security strategies and resist common attacks when applied to the fog environment.

Bayes Factor Meta-Analysis of the Mortality Claim for Peripheral Paclitaxel-Eluting Devices

ObjectivesThe aim of the present study was to quantify the probability of increased mortality with paclitaxel compared with control in a dataset of 28 randomized controlled trials. BackgroundAnalysis of data from 28 randomized controlled trials using conventional null-hypothesis statistical testing has produced the unexpected finding of a 68% increase in mortality at 2 years and a 93% increase at 3 to 5 years after using paclitaxel-eluting balloons and stents to treat femoropopliteal arterial disease, but no biologic explanation for increased mortality has been identified. MethodsA Bayesian sequential model was developed to quantify the probability of increased mortality 1, 2, and 3 to 5 years after treatment, and p values were replaced with meta-analytic Bayes factors (BFs), which provide decisive evidence at values >100 and very strong evidence at values of 32 to 100. ResultsThe evidence for increased mortality at 1 year (BF = 0.02), 2 years (BF = 8.5), and 3 to 5 years (BF = 14.6) was less than conclusive. All-cause mortality at 1 year was similar between the paclitaxel and control arms at 1 year (odds ratio: 0.92; 95% Bayesian credible interval: 0.53 to 1.53) and 2 years (odds ratio: 1.23; 95% Bayesian credible interval: 0.84 to 1.71) but was increased at 3 to 5 years (odds ratio: 1.43; 95% Bayesian credible interval: 1.01 to 1.90). ConclusionsThis study finds some support for increased mortality after using paclitaxel-eluting devices in femoropopliteal arterial disease, but the evidence is not unequivocal and may not sway skeptical investigators concerned about causation, unreported studies, or the post hoc analysis of trials underpowered for mortality.

The Humble Sentence

The Humble Sentence

Development of a nurse-led ultrasound-guided peripheral intravenous program

Establishing reliable peripheral intravenous access is one of the most common procedures performed daily by nurses across clinical settings in the hospital. The insertion of peripheral intravenous access devices is usually guided by palpation, direct visualization, landmark technique, or by trial and error. The invasive nature of the procedure accompanied by the associated risks requires successful cannulation on the initial attempt. In an effort to decrease the number of peripheral venous access attempts in patients with difficult venous access, a course was developed to educate a cohort of registered nurses on the basic principles and use of ultrasound. After successful completion of the course, each registered nurse was required to perform a minimum of 10 proctored successful ultrasound venous peripheral intravenous catheter insertions. The first attempt success rate for the proctored ultrasound venous peripheral intravenous catheter attempts was 83%, which was higher than that reported in the literature (20%-50%). Overall, the program effectively demonstrated a decrease in the number of attempts required to insert a peripheral venous catheter in patients with difficult venous access.